Friday, August 31, 2012

Romancing the Hop Giveaway

What is your favorite thing about romance? Well, we authors are ready to share our romantic tips, favorite romance reads, and more! Starting Friday, August 31st and ending Monday, September 3rd, over 200 authors and bloggers are sharing their favorite things about romance, reading romance, and dating.

And while we do that, we are EACH doing a giveaway. Yep, there will be over 200 giveaways! On my blog you can win....

A $10 Amazon Gift Card!

But that's not all....

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack!

To enter to win, please leave a comment with your email address. You can also gain extra entries for the $10 Amazon gift card I'm giving away (see the Rafflecopter below for details!)

Whew! Okay, now that all the administrative stuff is out of the way, let's get to the romance! EDGE OF THE PAST, the sequel to my debut novel LIFE ON THE EDGE, will be out this winter, and the story will pick up one year after we left Emily and Sergei in LIFE ON THE EDGE.

I'm sharing a little romantic scene here - a glimpse at what Emily and Sergei were up to between books. Emily and her skating partner Chris are about to go on the summer Ice Champions tour, while Sergei has to stay behind to coach his other students.

****

The townhouse was quiet when Sergei and I returned from dinner. Only a trace of light came from the living room, where one lamp remained on."Aubrey must already be asleep," I said, kicking off my heels and beckoning Sergei toward the couch. He wrapped me in an embrace as I curled up against him.

"Twelve days until I see you at the show in Providence," I said.

Sergei softly kissed the top of my head. "I've got my special calendar all ready to mark off the days."

I smiled, thinking of the big wall calendar I'd made for him. It showed the city where I’d be every day, and it had all my off days highlighted in bold colors. I'd made one for Marley, too, so she could track Chris's schedule.

"After Providence we'll have three weeks until I'm back here for a break." I turned my mouth downward.

I lifted my head from Sergei’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. "That's really sweet."

"I know between giving instructions and critiquing details it might seem like I don't have time to enjoy what you're doing, but I do. I love watching the way you move across the ice."

Sergei traced a feathery line down my arm, and I shivered from the soft heat in his touch. I curled my fingers into his hair and drew his mouth toward mine. As his lips moved from my mouth down my neck, the sound of feet on the creaking stairs snapped me out of my moment of bliss. I leaned away from Sergei just as Aubrey reached the living room. She was in her pajamas and carrying her laptop.

"Don't mind me. I'm headed to the kitchen," she said, making the turn to the next set of steps.

Sergei promptly resumed his tender exploration of my collarbone, sending fiery impulses to every part of my body. Grasping my face in his hands, he locked his deep blue eyes on mine. "When you're gone, I want to remember exactly what you feel like."

I pressed my lips together, trying not to smile. "I have a little confession to make."

"What's that?"

"When I was at your apartment last week, I stole one of your T-shirts to bring with me on the road.” I couldn't hide my grin any longer. “So I can sleep with it."

He laughed. "You could've just asked me for it."

"I thought it might sound weird."

"It's not weird. I like the idea of you sleeping with my shirt. I like the idea of you sleeping in my shirt even better." His gaze and his voice lowered, and my cheeks flushed with warmth.

"You don't have anything of mine,” I said. “I guess you'll just have to memorize me.”

Sergei gently slid my amber bracelet aside and touched his lips to my wrist, placing identical kisses all along my forearm. I moved onto his lap and buried my face in his collar."I hate goodbyes," I mumbled.

Sergei rubbed comforting circles on my back. "Twelve days will be up before you know it."

My favorite thing about romance is all of the sub-genres under the romance umbrella. Some books give us a mini history lesson. Some take us to someplace we've never been before. Some push the limits of our imagination. And some show us world that exist in our author's imagination.

Thanks for participating! Really like the hop so far!! I love reading, especially romance. I love reading contemporary, historical and erotic romance. I love the happy ending that is garenteed at the end. My favorite book is Lover Mine by JR Ward! I love John Matthew and Xhex. My favorite romantic moment was when my fiancé asked me to marry him! We meant two years ago right around when summer was ending! I think it is romantic when he brings me flowers because no one else has ever done it! My friend and I went out for our last big night out before classes started again. Thanks so much! Hope everyone else is having a great long weekend!!

Love to read romance books because I like to know that at least someone is getting an HEA, even if the characters are only fiction! Thanks for joining the hop and the awesome giveaway!ehaney578 at aol dot com

Thanks for the awesome hop and giveaways! This is so much fun! Thank you! My favorite thing about romance is the romance. lol I love the characters, the plots, the HEA's, the love. I love it all!shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

Figure skating, huh? Did you ever see Cutting Edge? Gotta love the "toe pick" scenes. Now that was a romance.For me, romance is all about the trust and respect built between the characters. Since I write BDSM, these elements are very important.Thank you for participating in the blog hop!qwilliarain(at)gmail(dot)com

That was a great excerpt from Edge of the Past, I think I'd enjoy reading that book! :) I love skating even though I've never done it myself before, haha. Thank you for the give away and for being part of the hop!